Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-12-31
JOHN CIIINAMAN.
SOME THINGS IN WHICH THE
AE,1HEN is PECULIAR.
incidents and Customs Described by .
Man WHO Has Becn There-How the
Streets Are Kept Clean--A Pointer in
sanitation.

| Streets Are Kept Clenn-A Pointer in
| sanitation.
There is probably no country or people
about whom so many popular misrepre-
! sentations exist as the Chinese. This
singular state Of things is due to two
! chief causes. In the first place, most
newspaper writer's on the subject write
! first impressions from very superficial
data, and without understanding the sub
| jects upon which they write. Then again.
the Chinese themselves in this country
are not disposed 10 lose sleep, whether
| they are understood or not. Then many
books have been written by people with
| political or other kinds OF axes TO grind,
and have given only such facts and inter
pretation of facts rs tended to accomplish
their purposes There are many Incl
| dents and customs IN the flowery king
dom which have been ignored in both
books and newspaper articles.
STREET CLEANING PEoBLEN
am asked how the Chinese keep their
cities clean. IL may he that aldermen
might get Il hint as TO the best solution Of
the street cleaning problem from the prac-
tices of the ''hathen." The conditions are
SO different there and here rs 10 render
comparison misleading. In the first place,
the principal source of dirt in American
cities is absent from Chinese cities. l
refer 10 horses, here SO numerous and
such prolific sources of "dirt." There are
no horses seen on Chinese streets drawing
carts or other vehicles. What few horses
are seen are ridden by officials or soldiers
The government owns all horses. Freight
is transported by men. either upon their
shoulders or on wheeiharrows. The streets
are not over six 10 ten feet wide, and the
sidewalk is in the middle of these narrow
lanes. The stores and shops are open to
the street line On either side, and each
shopkeeper cleans the street to the center
in front of his shop. This is ali the pro-
vision for street sweeping. No garbage is
thrown into the streets and lash barrels"
are unknown; hence the chief sources Of
dirt in our cities are unknown. There are
no underground sewers, and no need for
them. Residences are provided with other
means of disposing of fifth than either
dumping or draining into rivers.
Every residence, however humble, is
provided with earthen jars, or large stone
ware vaults, into which all otherwise un-
usuhle refuse is cast, and the contents of
these family jars" unlike our family
pie fertilize in agriculture to such al ex-
tent as the Chinese. This creates a ready
market for what we cast in sewers and
pollute our waterways. \ common street
sign posted over large earthen vessels
sunk in the streets do not warn the Pub
lie" 10 commit NO nuisance" but re-
spectfully invite the, public to Pause
here" These peculiar" and odoriferous
institutions are owned by men who make
it their life business tn deal in the com
modify which the aforesaid public" de-
posits in the receptacles. This is sold at
So much a measure" TO farmers, who
carry il 10 their homes, often many miles
away, where it is put into earthen tanks
or watts to ferment (reader. hold your
nose) until it is required TO fertilize grow
ing cabbaSes and other truck This is
one of the characteristic institutions Of
China, and the good results from il are
apparent in the yields OF food plants
Every COW herder carries basket into
which he or she gathers up the ''frag-
ments" which are used as the city sewer
age for fertiiZing purposes.
A UNIQUE SPECTACLE.
As one saunters through IA Chinese city, |
his eyes are greeted with what at first |
luI ~ SLY Vic iSaSt- u
IL is the public patronage Of the dealer in |
-cweraSe l. the air Puret Well. hardly. |
Have you ever observed the uniformly |
small nose of the Orientals in this coun-
try, If you have, and will accept my So |
luton of that feature. il is that the smell |
ing organ has been exhausted by inhaling |
the street odors Of China. One thing can |
be said in favor of thus disposing Of the |
sewerage of cities, viz: 1t does not pollute |
the water, which is more vital TO health |
than the air. Then the air has greater |
self cleansing powers than water, and, !
taken on the whole, it is the better plan |
10 protect the water than the air from i'm |
purities 1t is also true that no poison is |
SO malignant rs sewer poison, and that is
unknown in China.
Have you ever figured the commercial |
value Of the contents of our sewers,
which is daily and hourly, like Tcnnyson's |
brook, flowing on forever to pollute our
own Niagara rivers IL so you have been
surprised that some method Of utilizing
this source Of wealth has not been devised |
1t is not my purpose here 10 dish up fig-
ures or statistics on the value of an ar
ticle daily going 10 waste, and for which
the soil of the surrounding country is suf-
fering. Under the existing regulations
the Chinese farmer is able TO harvest
three crcps from every foot Of ground
every year. In no other way could such
a population be fed. Winter whea. ro-
tates with either rice or cotton. During
winter, when the wheat Is getting it's
start, radishes or turnips are grown on the
same soil Then around the margin of the
ground seeded TO wheat, beans or peas are
grown As soon as the wheat is harvested, If |